1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus and method for controlling a molding machine, and in particular to a human machine interface in the form of a control panel for a machine controller, which controls and monitors the operation and processes of a molding system (such as an injection molding machine for plastic or metal) and its associated equipment (such as a robot or other product handling equipment). The invention also relates to a human machine interface, which provides means to simplify and customize the operation of the machine manual functions for the operator.
2. Related Art
A human machine interface of a machine includes a display, an optional pointing device, and pushbuttons, which provide the functions for data entry, screen selections, machine operation selection and actuation of manual operations. In molding systems, an individual dedicated pushbutton is assigned to each independent machine manual operation. As the injection molding processes become more complex, the demand for more functions and operations to be provided by a machine controller also increases. For processing molds with multiple cavities or complicated parts, an increasing number of mold functionsxe2x80x94multiple ejectors and air blow functions for parts removal, and multiple core actuators to form complicated partsxe2x80x94are required in addition to the basic machine functions. This imposes a huge burden on the operator to find the right buttons to push during manual operation. See, for example, FIGS. 3 and 4. In addition, manual operations which require several functions to be operated at the same time become more difficult. As the number of pushbuttons increases, the human machine interface, which also serves the function of a control panel, will have to be increased in size. For small size machines that are required to provide demanding molding functions, the size of their control panels may grow to the point that the maneuvering area of the operator is greatly reduced.
In view of the above-elaborated problems, it is an object of this invention to provide apparatus and method for controlling a molding machine, and to provide a compact human machine interface to improve the ease of operator maneuvering.
It is further an object of this invention to provide a common human machine interface for all products, with the same look and feel to reduce the learning and training of products"" users.
It is further an object of this invention to simplify the operation of manual machine functions by dividing the functions into functional groups for fast operation.
It is further an object of this invention to provide the means to customize the operation of manual machine functions. The scope of customization includes, but is not limited to:
1. selecting groups of user preferred functions from the set of installed functions;
2. assigning several functions to a single pushbutton for simultaneous actuation;
3. constructing a sequence of operations from the set of installed functions for performing a sequence of manual functions automatically during manual mode.
It is further an object of this invention to provide a means for storing and restoring the customization of each operator.
It is further an object of this invention to maximize the real estate of the display for displaying the machine""s process variables in real time when some of the manual machine operations are not in use.
The human machine interface of this invention preferrably has a control panel comprising:
a) a flat panel display screen;
b) a pointing device;
c) a plurality of pushbuttons overlaid with or without icons;
d) a housing containing the above and the associated electronics;
e) means to uniquely identify each users preferred configuration;
f) means to connect to a remote controller for both digital information and video signal communication;
g) a connection for receiving external power to drive the panel""s electronics and display;
h) software running in the remote controller to provide all the operating functions of the human machine interface.